1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to medical catheters, which directly access vessels, cavities, and diseased regions of the body to enable intravenous infusion of medications, dialysis, and other medical treatments. More particularly, the present invention relates to the protection of subclavian and interjugular catheters.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, subclavian and interjugular catheters have an interior end, which extends during a regimen through a surgical or natural passage into or from the body, and an exterior end, which remains during the regimen outside the body for connection to a fluid source, repository, or processor. During the regimen, while the interior end remains fixed in place in the body, the exterior end may be disconnected and reconnected to a variety of medical devices during a prolonged period. When the exterior end of the catheter is exposed, clamps and injection caps typically keep blood, debris, and medication from leaking out. In order to prevent non-sterile exposure of the injection cap, a technician may wrap gauze pads around the injection caps and may secure the pads with adhesive tape. Although, for ease of explanation, a single catheter line and single injection cap are described hereinafter, multiple catheter lines and injection caps are contemplated.
Problems have arisen because there are no uniform standards for catheter length, configuration, or introduction at the surgical entry. As a result, there is no standard procedure for protecting the clamps, lines, injection caps from contamination or for preventing discomfort of the patient. Poorly wrapped dressings may fall off, leaving the injection caps open to contamination. Manipulating catheter input lines in attempts to remove such a dressing is unwieldy, time consuming, and often requires replacement of the catheter. The configuration and stability of the catheter at the surgical entry has been a matter of chance and has not been based carefully on the comfort of the patient.